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Radisson Hotel Group – Facts & Figures

Radisson Hotel Group (formerly known as Carlson Hotels) is one of the smaller hotel groups with just under 1,200 hotels worldwide. They are also one of the more difficult to track due to their complex ownership structure. With Carlson Hotels responsible for the Americas business and Carlson Rezidor for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, they have operated like two separate companies with different brands in the different regions. With the acquisition of both by Chinese group HNA, a global steering committee has been established and the Radisson Hotel Group as umbrella for both has been launched. I have put together the Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) facts & figures based on their web site and investor relations information as of March 2018!

Regions: Radisson Hotel Group is one of the more balanced, global hotel chains. The US is the largest region with 57% of their properties, followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa with 34% and Asia-Pacific with 9% of hotels. Withing the regions, there is a heavy focus within the Americas on the US, and within Asia, on China and India, which makes their actual global footprint a little smaller than it sounds by the numbers!

Brands: The history of mergers, acquisitions and separately run groups has led to one of the more convoluted portfolios in the industry! Country Inn & Suites by Radisson is the largest brand with 40% of all properties. They are a mid-scale, select-service brand that is focused on secondary markets in the US with a handful of properties in India. The second largest brand is the upscale Radisson Blu (25%) which is mostly found in Europe with only a few properties in the rest of the world. The mid-scale Radisson brand (18%) is also mostly found in the US, but there are plans to grow this brand aggressively in Europe and the rest of the world. The mid-scale Park Inn brand (12%) is mostly found in Europe and offers some select-service and some full-service hotels.
Other brands in the RHG portfolio include the upscale Park Plaza brand (mostly Europe), the luxury Radisson Collection (5 properties), the millenial-focused Radisson Red (4 properties) and the budget prizeotel in Germany (4 hotels), with very little growth since their launch.

The hotel locator on the Club Carlson web site provides a clear picture (green Radisson, Country Inn; blu/purple Radisson Blu, Park Inn):

Price: The RHG hotels are pretty evenly split between mid-scale and upscale hotels, with only a handful of budget or luxury properties. The uneven brand-distribution leads to mostly mid-scale hotels in the US and a lot of upscale hotels in Europe, making RHG much more attractive for reward travelers in Europe than the US.

The Radisson Hotel Group has announced aggressive growth plans as well as a rationalization of their portfolio. More than 500 properties (over 40%) are expected to be re-branded or re-positioned in the next five years, with a number of properties likely to leave the system! While this is likely to be disruptive to the group, I’d consider these changes long overdue.